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Amid Threat of Nuclear War with North Korea, Norton Introduces Nuclear Disarmament Bill

Sep 25, 2017

Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today introduced the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act of 2017 to require the United States to negotiate an international agreement to disable and dismantle its nuclear weapons by 2024 and to redirect the funds to human and infrastructure needs, such as housing, health care, Social Security and the environment.

“There is no greater threat to the future of our planet than nuclear war,” Norton said. “As we seek to eliminate Norton Korea’s march toward achieving long-range nuclear weapons, our nation, with the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, should lead by example by bringing nations together to begin negotiations on reducing our stockpiles of warheads and moving toward realizing a world without nuclear weapons.”

The bill, which also requires ecologically beneficial activities, including the control of fissile material and nuclear waste and conversion to nuclear-free energy, would take effect when the President certifies to Congress that all countries possessing nuclear weapons have either eliminated them or begun such elimination under established international requirements. The Congresswoman has introduced a version of the bill since 1994, after working with the District of Columbia residents who were responsible for the nuclear disarmament ballot initiative passed by D.C. voters in 1993.